Thursday, August 20, 2009

I got my camera back from the shop!

It’s been a long 3 weeks!  I received a call from Peachtree Camera Repair in Marietta, GA at 12:30pm yesterday.  They notified me that my D300 was ready for pick up.  I was more excited than I can say.  I will admit that while it was in the shop, I was forced to “re-learn” my D70.  I found that although I did not want to necessarily go back to it, I remembered after  doing a photoshoot with it, just how nice and sharp it was.  I appreciated the D70 again and was able to do my session without any issues.

 

My wife Tabatha and I left for Atlanta as soon as I got off work at 2:30-2:45 and high-tailed it up I75 so we could miss the Atlanta traffic.  We were blessed to be able to get all the way through downtown Atlanta and up to Marietta in a timely manner.  The traffic was good all the way until about 2 miles before the exit I needed to take.  We arrived at the shop just before closing and I was so pleased to check the camera out and see it focusing like it was supposed to.

 

We left and had dinner at the Marietta Diner (seen on Food Network on DDD) and that was nice.  We both had to bring food home, they give you A LOT of food!  We bought two slices of cake (Carrot and German Chocolate) and I tasted them when we got home and by the way, they are gigantic slices.  The cakes are delicious and worth a trip up there by themselves.

 

I took a few test shots once I got home and they were sharper than ever, even more than I when I first started shooting with it!  I was very impressed and I’m very happy.

 

Sunday, August 9, 2009

August 2009, it's been a while.

Life is good. I recently went to Phoenix, AZ for a week with my wife. It was very VERY hot! I enjoyed the time away but there is not much at all to do in Phoenix but to try to fine a place to get cool!! I walked around downtown while my wife was in a class one day and I felt like I was going to pass out, but God kept me.

I also took a trip to Sedona and that was great! The way it came about was, as I sat in the foyer waiting for my rental car to be delivered, another hotel visitor mentioned to me the red mountains of Sedona should not be missed. My wife was in class that day, so I drove there on my own. While I was there I took some very nice photos of the red mountains.

Even with the heat, I would go back if we were going to stay in Sedona at a resort and do some hiking and travel to the Grand Canyon.


While I was in Phoenix, I took my camera to the shop there to get some things checked out and found the contacts on the camera bodies and the lenses were in real need of cleaning. Also, I have noticed as of late, the photos seem soft, to the point of being out of focus at times. I tried everything I knew to fix the problems myself but I was just out of luck. Once we returned to GA, I took my D300 to Peachtree Camera Repair in Marietta to get an estimate. The repair company called me with a $400 repair that I was not ready to pay out, but, can I do right? Apparently, there is a bracket or something that hold the image sensor is cracked and needs to be replaced. The biggest problem with receiving that news was that I had a wedding shoot in a week, which leads me to this next topic..


You know, it's good to have good friends! I found that the friends that I have are good friends. When I was in need for camera body, I could go to my good friend, Michael Williams of Michael Williams Photography and he allowed me to use his D300 to complete this assignment. It was a great thing to me to be helped like that! I'm so grateful to Michael for his friendship and trust. Thanks Michael!

All the weddings (3) that I shot in July went very well. The one I shot today at Hilton Garden Inn in Warner Robins for Wanda and Willie Pickett was a lot of fun and should bring some more business. I made some good business contacts and Carlisle Photography is now on the preferred vendors list with the hotel! God be praised.